Here it is! That ridiculous assignment I somehow managed to complete in two days! I'm going to post in two parts because the overall document is over 30,000 characters.

Part I

A chilling giggle broke through the silent darkness. The goddess tucked a pink hair behind her ear, proud of her handiwork.

“That’s the last gem, dear sister,” she hummed, lips innocently curling around the words.

The red haired goddess crossed her arms and nodded approvingly. “And, with all the havoc this city has seen in the past month, no one will be able to fend off this level of magic,” she added.

Satisfied, the two took their places on either side of the radio tower’s flashing light, placing their palms flat against it.

“Here goes,” beamed the younger twin.

“The raiders will certainly be in for a surprise when they wake up tomorrow,” purred the older.

As the light on the tower groaned into its next crescendo, a pulse of pink and blue energy exploded from the epicenter, charged by the four gems scattered throughout the city, completely altering everyone in its wake, and no one felt a thing.

---

Early morning sunlight pierced through the yellowed studio window, somehow finding the most dickish way possible to hit the raider directly in the eyes. With a groan, Mahlua rolled over, pushing her face into the pillow for more comfortable darkness. Something out of place itched at her chin, so with a jerky movement, she scratched at it. In her discovery she jolted awake, suddenly much more alert than anyone should be at daybreak.

“The hell!?” she exclaimed, keeping a hand to the newly grown patch of wiry ginger hair. It almost didn’t register that her voice had dropped about an octave or two as well.

The raider sat dumbfounded for a moment, then jerked the bed sheets out of the way to confirm her suspicions. Surely enough, her body was not how she left it the night before.

She closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath, running through various reasons for why, suddenly, overnight, her body changed its sex entirely. Writer-tan’s DEM magic came to mind, and nothing else made much sense, but that didn’t explain why her, unless other people had been hit with the gender-bender as well.

As she pondered this, she swung her legs over the side of the bed, careful upon standing up. Her center of gravity felt different, and she took things slow on the way to the closet. Upon sliding the door, she found even her wardrobe’s contents had changed to match the adjustments. Thankfully, at least, nothing was particularly out of her taste. After a quick browse, she threw something on and entered the small side room of the upstairs bathroom.

No stranger to drag, she understood her masculine features before, but having them exaggerated without contouring and makeup was a sight to see, and the chin beard, as itchy as it was, didn’t look terrible. Not that she had a razor to shave it off with if it did. She turned her head and new body all sorts of ways, gauging it, feeling its differences. She wondered if anything had fundamentally changed, internally. A wave of anxiety swept over her. She wasn’t in the mood for an identity crisis.

Instead, she threw on a thick jacket and went down the stairs to her art studio and took a left to enter the garage, grabbing the keys to her beloved Suzuki. The purple motorcycle met her with a familiar gleam. Pleased, she carefully took a seat and started up the engine. Thankfully, nothing had changed about her electric manipulation. She felt in tune with the little static hum of the battery.

“Guess some things don’t change,” she sighed.

That voice could take some getting used to.

---

It didn’t take long to reach MR Pub so early in the morning. Mahlua parked her ride in the same spot on the bike racks and killed the engine. She took another deep breath and tried, again, to perceive anything different about the atmosphere. She had tried along the way, but got nothing, the same as she did this time. Hopefully the mistress of the pub had some answers.

The raider pushed the heavy door aside, met with the same orientation the bar had yesterday. Nothing out of place, except Pub-tan, who was nowhere to be found.

“Hello?” she called, voice booming and carrying far more than she was used to. She winced.

The pub wasn’t closed, otherwise the door would’ve been locked. The raider clenched her jaw and took a seat, careful not to cross her legs as usual.

Finally, someone emerged from the door behind the counter. He sported a nice button up shirt with a light tan vest and striped tie, which he adjusted in a way that betrayed his irritation. “When I get my hands on those two,” he muttered tightly before turning to see the raider. “Oh! And who might you be?”

Mahlua blinked in confusion. It wasn’t like Pub-tan to hire another bartender. “They call me MahluaandMilk, but generally only Coryn calls me by the Milk part,” she explained.

The bartender paled and silence fell for a hard moment.

“Those b-----s.” The man spat, turning elegantly on his heel to pace back and forth behind the counter.

“Uh, who are b-----s now?” the raider asked, quirking an eyebrow.

“The Twins, of course,” the other hissed in reply. “They’ve gone and used their magic for some new prank of theirs.”

Finally, two and two made four.

“Wait a minute, Pub-tan?” the ginger gawked.

“The one and only,” the bartender said flatly, crossing her arms, “And I suspect once the mods wake up, there’s going to be one hell of a party.”

Surely enough, as soon as the words left her mouth, the door burst open again, revealing a Nekomimi in a familiar trench coat and face cover plate. “Something’s wrong,” Lego said, accent still as round as usual, but distinctly raised into the feminine range. His tail flicked agitatedly.

Unimpressed, Pub-tan’s lips pressed into a line. “Clearly. We’re all genderbent, and to add insult to injury, the Twins drew out your fetish on you. You poor bastard…”

“That’s not all,” he said breathlessly, “Efurry time I talk, cat puns slip out!”

The raider and the tan at the bar shared a pained look.

---

Finally, around ten o’clock, the mods called for a town hall meeting. Concerned raiders, all affected by the Twins’ spell, crowded the plaza around a quick stage the mods set up. Writer-tan and MR-tan were in attendance along with the citizens. After two taps on a center-stage mic, Hasith himself began the announcements.

“Raiders,” he began sternly, “I’m sure you’ve all noticed something different this morning. Our intelligence leads us to believe that the Ecchi Twins are the culprits. We still don’t know the agent of the genderswap, but we are presently working with Pub-tan, MR-tan, and Writer-tan to resolve the issue.”

From the crowd, Mahlua raised her hand. “What about Writer-tan’s DEM magic?”

Writer-tan, upon hearing the question, hoisted herself onto the stage and took the mic. “I tried that earlier, but it seems that this magic can’t be undone without some proper process. As counter-intuitive as it may seem, the Twins must’ve instilled their own form of DEM into whatever this is,” she explained, adjusting her glasses.

Raiders shifted uncomfortably around the plaza. Murmurs broke out.

Suddenly, as if a smoke bomb had been dropped, the stage flashed with an explosive light. A hearty, boyish giggle emanated from the speakers. “Hello, raiders. I hope you’re enjoying your little present?” a new voice called.

As the smoke settled, surely enough, a pink haired wonder stood, holding the mic in one hand and a tell-tale kendo sword in the other, drooped over slightly broadened shoulders. In her new, masculine form, Ecchi-tan maintained a Japanese-style school uniform fitted for the opposite sex. Behind her, Lewd-tan’s wardrobe went from pencil skirt and blazer to a three-piece American cut suit that looked like it at least cost a year’s salary, even for a mod. The twin tans appeared to revel in their show-stopping awe before continuing.

“Now, now. We know things around here have been rough with the influx of spam ninjas lately,” Ecchi-tan hummed, averting her eyes.

The redhead took the lead from there. “So, we decided to set up a little game for all of you. We took four gems imbued with our power and scattered them through the city,” she explained making a graceful gesture with an outstretched arm, which almost looked off with her new appearance.

“And to reverse the spell, all you guys have to do is find them and break them,” the pink haired one finished with a smile.

At this point, Pub-tan had pushed through the crowd of raiders and had started to storm up the stairs, seething.

“Ah, looks like that’s our exit cue,” Lewd-tan sighed, placing a hand on her twin’s head as she kicked something on the stage that caused another flash-bang. As everyone’s eyes scrambled to adjust, her smooth voice called out, “If you’d like a hint, start at Pub’s place. Under your nose, and all.”

When the visual white noise dispersed, only Pub-tan was left on stage, clenching her fists. Some raiders started to leave, either headed home or to the pub. Mahlua fell into the latter category.

---

Before any of the raiders made it to the pub, its owner used her Tan abilities to teleport there. By the time Mahlua and the mods and other concerned even made it to the door, Pub-tan had practically torn the place apart looking for the gem, seething in rage.

The first inside, Coryn, sporting chin-length hair now and an American flag crop-top to fit his almost broken new form, tried to sedate her.

“Woah, woah, what’s going on?” he asked, ducking as a polishing rag hit the wall behind where his head had been moments before. “Getting this mad isn’t like you at all.”

“I cannot BELIEVE they had the NERVE to come through here like that, let alone deposit one of their smarmy TOYS here,” she shrieked.

Squeezing through the small crowd of raiders trying to enter the bar, MR-tan hopped over the counter, practically an unheard of sin, and grabbed the taller Tan by the shoulders. “Hey, use ya head,” she said, straining her eyebrows worriedly up her forehead. “Yeah, they shoulda never put one here, but you gotta calm down. You’re makin a mess.”

There was practically a fire in Pub-tan’s eyes as she bore her gaze down at the shorter Tan, but she set her jaw tightly in one place and stood stock-still. The air grew thick with tension, practically popping like a circuit on past its maximum voltage capacity.

“There you go. Calm,” MR-tan continued, slowly loosening her grip on the other’s shoulders. “Now don’t worry. We’ll find the gem hidden around here, and we’ll give you the honor of shattering it to bits.”

“Gotta love how you up and decided that for everyone,” Pub-tan replied curtly. With that, she jerked herself out of the other’s grip and seated herself on the inside of the bar.

“Right then,” the sporty ginger grinned as she hopped back over the counter. She scanned the faces of the little crowd that had collected and put both hands on her hips. “We’ll help her out by doing a thorough sweep through the building and around its premises.”

The group nodded and split up, each going around in its own direction. Mahlua found herself clumped in the usual group with Coryn, Lego, and Everlastin. They searched around for a while, but upon not finding much of anything, resigned themselves to sitting around the purple Suzuki outside, musing.

“We don’t even know what the gems look like,” the ginger groaned, rubbing at her bristly chin beard. Its texture had almost started to comfort her, in a weird way.

“Maybe we could look fur traces of meow-gic and find it that way?” Lego hummed, swishing his tail back and forth.

“I’m not really sure why it’s such a big deal what we find them so quickly,” Everlastin shrugged. “I mean, this whole change doesn’t really bother me. I’ve always been mistaken as a boy anyway.

“Okay, but these things are killing me,” Coryn huffed, gesturing at his chest. “How the hell do you manage when they just…bounce when you run? That actually kinda hurts!”

“Yeah, and now I have to stop and think every time I sit down. Biologically speaking, both sexes have their issues,” the electric elemental shrugged, hopping off her bike. “As for the idea of searching for magic, I think Lego might be onto something.”

His ear twitched at the mention of his name. “Fur real?”

“Mm-hmm,” she nodded, laying her hand flat on the ground. “I’m going to try sending a low-voltage pulse and see if anything gives resistance.”

Everyone exchanged a glance. Mahlua exhaled deeply and felt her veins become as copper wires and channeled through the ground, the air, through the building, through metal, around rubber, through people’s brain waves, until finally—

The ginger stood up and hissed in recoil. “Surprise, surprise, I may have found a clue,” she said, making way around the Pub into the alley beside it.

“Where are you going?” Coryn asked, stumbling to follow her.

Not long after they all started walking, Mahlua stopped outside a familiar closed door, tapered off and dusty from lack of use in recent years.

“The Mortal Combat Room?” Everlastin blinked, rubbing the back of her neck.

“Maybe,” the ginger said, planting her foot hard against the wooden barricade. Surely enough, it gave. Inside, dust flakes filtered in the light, and behind them, a table held a bizarre pink gleam.

Coryn slid past her and went over to pick it up, but hesitated, hand inches from it. “They certainly gave a vague hint. I guess since this room is closed now, it is part of Pub-tan’s place. Still…” He carefully tapped it with a finger, and upon not being smote to death or whatever he expected, he picked up the pink gem. It had the general shape of a diamond, about the size of a baseball. “…guess we’ll let Pub-tan have at it.”

“What was she so pissed about anyway?” Mahlua asked from the doorway.

The scientist shrugged and pocketed the gem.

A quick walk landed the party back in the bar. Raiders stood around, looking puzzled. Proudly, Coryn cleared his throat. “We got it for ya, Pub-tan. It’s all yours,” he called, tossing it to the bartender.

She caught it one-handed, without hardly looking up. “Where was it?” she asked tightly.

“The old Mortal Combat room we had back behind your place,” he explained, pointing a thumb behind him. “Milk found it with her electric stuffs.”

The Tan sighed, relieved. “Good.” Then, without even turning to look at the offensive item, she crushed it to dust in her fist.

As the powder filtered to the floor, it released a sound, as if it had been holding an audio recording. “Good job!” Ecchi-tan’s voice bubbled in its natural, feminine tone, “You got the first one!”

“The next one will be somewhere familiar to most of you,” Lewd-tan’s cool voice chuckled. “I can’t develop your idea too much for you, but follow the outline to the writer’s section.”

With that, the pink remains of the shattered gem disappeared.

“Guess that means you guys are headed to the Develop Your Story district next?” Pub-tan smirked.

“I…I thought that, but I wondered if they really made it that obvious as a joke,” Mahlua blinked.

“No time like the present to find out. Pretty as the girls are, they’re hurting my back,” Coryn groaned, stretching.

MR-tan started up the bus and hummed along the sprawling streets of the city. “Man, the Develop Your Story section,” she sighed, blowing out a long breath, “That gem could be anywhere.”

In the back, the quartet sat, mulling over the possibilities. “Well,” Mahlua shrugged, “The hint this time around also threw in the word ‘outline’, and since they already hinted strongly at Development…I hope we’re not on a goose chase in the wrong part of town.”

Everyone grew grim, except Everlastin, who seemed fairly relaxed.

“How do we know they’re actually going to make us break the gems?” the brunette offered. “I mean, after a while, they’ll probably get bored and undo it, right?”

Coryn shook his head. “Nah. Those girls, when they give a challenge, they expect us to hold to it.”

“Yeah, but aren’t their other challenges usually timed?” Everlastin pressed. “Besides, I really don’t have a problem being stuck like this for a while. My gender’s always been a little fluid.”

“That’s great and all, and I’ve had my bouts of gender dysphoria as well,” the electric elemental interjected, “But, for the most part, it’s a pretty safe bet that the cis raiders are having their own bout with it. It might be nice for others under the genderqueer umbrella, but dysphoria sucks, just in general. A lot of raiders are probably feeling pretty uncomfortable by now.”

Coryn and Lego slowly nodded.

“Back on topic,” MR-tan called from the driver’s seat, “I have a few spare maps of the city, if you think that’ll help with their riddles.”

The party congregated towards the front of the bus, where the Tan handed off various maps of the area. They spread them around the aisle to examine each in its complexity, searching for something, anything that could be a clue as to where the second gem lay. Clouds passed overhead, and amidst the pointing and discussions, the sky began to show signs of turning from late morning to early evening. MR-tan parked the bus to scout around, meanwhile Lego argued about the junction of alleys that formed the gentle curvature matching very womanly cats-sets. By the time she returned, the raiders were hardly looking at one another in frustration. She made a flat expression and held up a massive bag. “So, no luck? Well, I brought food.” That got everyone to turn and face her, lightening expressions into relief.

Joining the circle, she passed the bag around and everyone took a little box of fast food from it. They mulled over the maps some more, then brought the conversation in its circle back to whether or not the Twins might have put it around a topic discussion room about a particular ecchi story or genderbender. Finally when the sky started to turn orange, Coryn threw his hands up.

“Those girls are out of their minds! At this rate, it’d probably be easier to summon them and ask them if they’d pretty please give us another clue,” he groaned, chomping aggressively at a double bacon cheeseburger. “Ugh, beer would be nice to go along with that.”

“Uh, Coryn, scientifically speaking, I think that does the opposite of helping your brain think logically about stuff,” his assistant interjected.

“Well, maybe we’re logicking too hard. In my work with them, they’ve taught me that sometimes the answer is cheesy, mind-numbingly simple, stereotypical, and probably exaggerated and ridiculous,” Mahlua mused, standing up for a stretch.

All eyes fell on her like floodlights.

She paused, looking around bewilderedly. “What. Is there mayo in my beard?”

Everyone crowded around her expectantly.

“Seriously, dudes. What?”

“You’re pagan,” Lego pointed out, ears tucked back and eyes widened.

“Aaand?” the lightning child drawled.

“And you’ve worked with the Twins…as goddesses,” MR-tan pointed out, almost as if agitated at their pompous claim to the title.

“Well, I am a dual citizen of MR and Ecchiworld,” she said, taking a step back, breaking into a nervous sweat. “They are considered goddesses there.”

“And think about what you just said. Cheesy, stereotypical,” the Tan pressed.

Mahlua blinked.

“C’mon, Milk,” Coryn crossed his arms, or tried to. He still had difficulty figuring out if they should go above or below his bust. After a moment of shuffling, he gave up. “Do the witchy thing and summon them!”

“Wow…that…actually might work,” she sighed, rubbing the back of her neck. “But, uh, I’ll need some room, so it’s probably best if we don’t try this in the bus.”

With that, the party migrated out onto a little green space nearby. Mahlua shuffled out of her jacket and folded it, placing it on the ground to give herself a place to sit. “So, uh,” she started, turning to everyone with a faint blush, “Usually being in their presence gives me hot flashes, and since I don’t exactly have tits right now, would anyone be like, super uncomfortable if I took off my shirt?”

“Ugh, fine,” she sighed, shaking her head. “Sorry for trying to be sensitive.” In a single movement, she grabbed a bit of fabric between her shoulderblades and pulled the shirt over her head, revealing a broad chest with the slightest ginger peach fuzz. A blush still colored her ears as she sat, exhaling.

She grounded herself, letting everything heavy phase into the earth, and then she centered, pulling her energy around her heart, a few thin lines of electricity zipping like a plasma ball between different parts of her body. Her breathing started to even out with five beats of her heart, and finally, she began to speak.

“Lady of youth and playful shyness, lady of experience and forwardness,” her deep voice resounded, illuminating the faint glow of heiroglyphs that were embedded into her being, “I seek your advice and your kinship. Great goddesses of the highest acropolis in Ecchiworld, mistresses of the sacred mysteries, Ecchi-tan, Lewd-tan, I call to you.”

The air grew heavy, melding with the heat in the dulling colors of duskfall. Mahlua’s ritualistic state drew static that congregated before her, solidifying. Then, with a bright flash and metallic pop, a wind hitched up that began billowing her ponytailed hair upward. Her flush deepened as her eyebrows knitted together in concentration.

Finally, a whirlwind of energy knocked everyone nearby back a few feet, and in the center of the whirlwind, the witch sat, met in the presence of her twin goddeses, who materialized before her.

“So,” Lewd-tan curled her lips around the word like a smile, “What do you request of us?”

Beside her, Ecchi-tan arched forward, examining the witch, mouth open slightly in surprise and intrigue. “Oh my,” she sighed, “I think I really like how this spell turned out for you!”

Mahlua flushed and opened her eyes, which no longer appeared to have irises, instead glowing like the holy markings in her flesh. “I’m honored, my lady,” she said, bowing her head.

“What the hell?” A vein pulsed visibly on Lego’s brow. “Ecchi-tan…you actually like men like that? I…but—”

“Don’t worry, Maestro,” the pink haired Tan cleared her throat, “I’ve known from the beginning that she’s definitely one of dear sister’s children. Your heart is certainly more pure, more appreciative of the intricate balance of showing the only what is necessary and generating the power of the ancient art.”

The nekomimi stopped as if frozen in time and space, all but the tears of gratitude that leaked from his eyes.

“Guys, you’re forgetting why we summoned them in the first place,” Everlastin said flatly, shaking her head. Seeing as she was never a member of Ecchiworld, the Twins held no more power over her than MR-tan, who at this point looked impatient.

“Clever one, aren’t you?” the red haired Tan called, putting a hand on her hip as she adjusted her glasses. “Of course, we already know. You want to know more about the location of the second gem.”

“You could say that they’re looking for a sign, couldn’t you, dear sister?” the younger giggled, smoothing down her schoolboy tie.

The two shared a look, red eyes meeting pink in an unsettling knowingness and grinned darkly at one another.

“Of course,” the spectacled Tan sighed, expression dropping into one more grave, “We can’t just give you the answer. There have been some unforeseen benefits of the sex swap. Surely you’ve noticed, MR.”

The orange haired Tan stiffened. “And some people are experiencing anxiety at unhealthy levels. I know what you’re about to say. Stop. Isn’t it enough that you’ve made so many raiders suffer this dysphoria for almost a full day? You could call it humbling, but for drawing it out like this, it’s getting closer to sadistic,” she said, tightening her fist as she took a step forward.

Instantly, Ecchi-tan drew her bokken and held it at ease, eyes fixed on MR-tan. Despite the casualness of her stance, the threat remained.

“Now, now, there’s no need to get vicious,” Lewd-tan said lowly, extending her arm to bar her sister’s way. “We won’t directly give you an answer, but, we will give you a sign.” With that, she looked into the eyes of the raider directly before her. “Are you ready to offer something in return for our help?”

“Yes, my lady,” Mahlua replied, closing her eyes and bowing low.

“Good. Now, this will hurt a little,” the older goddess turned to the younger with a nod.

Ecchi-tan followed up on the cue with a swing of her bokken, whamming the raider’s ribs with a chilling THOK, sending her in an impressive arc through the grey sky. The other raiders gasped in horror and surprise, running after the flying, limp body of their friend.

To protect herself, the witch focused on phasing herself into pure electric energy and grounded herself on the closest conduit reaching to the ground that she could find. With a jolt, she found herself firmly planted on the ground, one hand pressed against the billboard stand that held up the sign dividing the districts. Looking up, it made sense all at once.

“Welcome to the Develop Your Story District!” it read.

Curious, and no longer glowing in her ritual state, Mahlua let herself electrify again, zooming up to the standing platform on the billboard. Surely enough, a diamond-shaped gem sat embedded between two plates of metal. Unlike the last one, this one shone a brilliant blue. Below, she could hear her friends calling up to her. She picked up the gem and held it up, calling down “Hey, guys!” Smiling, she put it in her pocket and started making her way down the ladder, not wanting to expend any more energy.

Once back on the ground, everyone crowded around her again. “Are you alright? That sounded like she broke your ribs!” Everlastin whined, inspecting the red mark that would no doubt soon turn black and blue.

“I’m fine, really,” the ginger assured her, “I took a worse beating back in December, remember? Being in my ritual state protects against major damage. Speaking of, did someone bring my shirt?”

Everyone exchanged an embarrassed glance and shrugged. “Well, let’s at least crack open this next clue first, then we’ll go get it,” Coryn suggested.

“I almost swear you guys just like seeing me shirtless,” Mahlua grumbled, withdrawing the blue gem and gripping it tightly in her hand. Like she saw Pub-tan do, she clenched the magic imbued stone and it shattered instantly.

Lewd-tan took over, sultry and prodding. “The next one is somewhere important to me. I was humbled in a glorious battle.” Her voice paused, as if she wanted to say something else, but decided instead on, “When it comes down to it, the favor of a goddess will always help you find a way.”

“That was one hell of a fight, and it was a route no one had taken, and she let us all pass. We almost won the raid because of it,” the ginger replied with a shiver.

“Wait, wait, wait, what’s this about?” Lego prodded. “I know the tunnel entrance under the Admin building took damage during meowr battle, but what’s paw-ll this about ‘the favor of a goddess’, eh, Mahlua? Furst, Ecchi-tan herself compliments you, and meow Lewd-tan says something about a ‘favor’ over a battle you won with her? I think there’s something mew’re not telling us.” He crossed his arms

Mahlua bit her lip. She hadn’t told anyone about the brief vision she had before being struck down in the final fight. She treasured that dream as if it were real, even if she never brought it up with the Twins after the fact.

Irritated, Everlastin butt in. “What’s it matter? If we have a pretty good idea where the third gem is, let’s go get it!”

“You’re much eager about this than before,” Coryn hummed, raising an eyebrow accusingly.

“Yeah…it’s just…let’s just grab Mahlua’s shirt and go. This is weird.”

---

It didn’t take long for the raiders to enter the tunnels, since the web of layers echoed throughout the city. MR-tan, meanwhile, told them that she was going to find the Writer-tan and Pub-tan and have a long, hard chit-chat with the Twins about the massive boundaries they had overstepped.

“Ugh, I wish she would’ve at least driven us closer to the Administration Building before she ducked out,” Everlastin yawned, walking with her hands on the back of her neck.

“Yeah, well, whatever they’re gonna do, it looks like it’s going to be serious. Did you see the look on her face? And Pub-tan earlier today was absolutely furious. Everything seems really out of place. For whatever reason, it looks like the other Tans are getting tired of the Twins,” Mahlua pondered aloud. “Hey, Coryn, you’re the unofficial scribe of all of MR. Do you know what’s going on?”

The scientist shrugged, shaking his head. “If something went down, I wasn’t let in on it. Or, it happened before even I got here.”

“Speaking of strange occurrences, why was I turned into a nekomimi girl?” Lego added. “I mean, efurryone knows I love cat girls, but I can’t believe that I’m the odd cat out in the whole city. Also, I wish it were pawsible to turn these puns off.”

“Yeah, you’re practically a walking stereotype,” the ginger sighed. “Guess they really have it out for you.

“I’m not sure he’s the only one,” Coryn said, scrunching his eyebrows together. “My wardrobe was changed completely when I woke up. There was a lot of cowgirl attire, and that isn’t even my thing.”

“Oh, so that explains the American flag shirt…and…wait, you had a double bacon cheeseburger earlier, too,” Mahlua’s eyes grew wide, “And you kinda help lead us around, giving me the ideas I need to do things, and…well, there’s your obvious, erm…”

“What are you trying to say?” the scientist replied curtly, crossing his arms, finally settling on the decision that under was definitely easiest to achieve.

“I think I get it,” his assistant chimed in. “You’re an All-American stereotype!”

“So, what mew’re suggesting is that we weren’t just genderbent?” the nekomimi asked slowly, tilting his head as if processing the information.

“It’s a possibility. Isn’t it also odd that we seem to be the only ones on the hunt for the gems, despite all the people who probably hate life right now? It’s all like some corny shounen save-the-world story,” Mahlua continued.

Coryn made a ‘pssh’ sound and cracked a smile. “I guess that makes you the lame shounen protagonist, Milk. I mean, after all, you were the one who used your electric affinity to find the first gem, and then you summoned the Twins and got the ball rolling, not to mention they really seem to be drawn to you, in that weird way villainesses seem to do, and even Everlastin! She may have budded a gentlemen’s sword, but she’s still straight as an arr–YYEEOOW!”

“Sorry,” the brunette said unapologetically, fist still dug deep in the side of her boss.

“Which brings up the question…what stereotype is Efurlastin?” Lego said, raising a hand for a high-five. Everlastin smacked it proudly.

“Traitor,” Coryn grumbled.

“Nah, more like the MC’s childhood friend foil character. The Suzaku to my Lelouche,” the lame shounen protagonist offered, nodding in satisfaction with her own answer.

Finally, a familiar corner came into view.

“Well, no more time for mulling about. Time to see if this is the place, and, more pressingly, if it’s booby trapped,” the scientist smiled, stretching for a moment before rubbing his smarting side.

Everyone took a deep breath and mentally braced themselves before turning into the murky green light of the underground entranceway to MR Tower. Surely enough, a faint pink gleam sat in the middle of the room. The two mods nodded to one another and circled the room as if trying to avoid initiating a boss fight cutscene. Mahlua, meanwhile, slowly approached the center of the room, Everlastin in tow. She reached the precious item and squatted down to grab it. The air stood still in anticipation for an attack, but then…nothing.

Relieved, the elemental held up the pink gem and crushed it in her hand.

“Nicely done,” a familiar, warm voice purred. “That day marked a profound step forward for raiders everywhere. I will surely hold it in my heart forever.”

“As for the final clue,” Ecchi-tan’s voice cut in, “Don’t you wanna share your victory with everyone? Because pretty soon it looks like our little show is going to be taken off the air.”

“Man, their clues keep getting easier. What the hell?” the ginger said, face contorting with concern.

“I guess they had to make up knowing that the second gem was ridiculously hard?” Everlastin offered.

“Or maybe it had to be us, because only those involved in last year’s raid would’ve known this location’s value,” Coryn added.

“Whatever the case, looks like we’re headed to the broadcast tower,” Mahlua concluded.

---

As the raider party made their way to their final destination, in another part of town, MR-tan called together a meeting for all the Tans. The night was warmer than it had been in a while, with spring on the horizon. The meeting place was a little café with outdoor seating. The five sat around one of those metal outdoor tables with an umbrella in the center, a little light suspended from the spokes to fight away the darkness.

“I take it we all know what this is about?” MR-tan started softly, shifting her eyes to look at everyone.

“Yes. This went further than we anticipated,” Lewd-tan sighed, sliding her glasses up the bridge of her nose.

“So,” the pink haired one sighed, tightening her fists in her lap, “We’re bringing that back up, huh, Si–”

“Don’t call me that,” Pub-tan hissed.

After a pause, Writer-tan spoke up, albeit softly. “Look, I know this pulls on a lot of nerves, but we have to take fully into account all the transgressions of the Twins.” She drew a scroll from her belt and unraveled it on the table. “On top of having stolen Pub’s old stuff to create Ecchiworld, you’ve begun to deify yourselves, and all the damage you’ve done to the city over the course of your annual raids, and now wreaking havoc on so many raiders for some idea of amusement, personally, I can’t see how we can let this go.”

“…What exactly are you planning, then?” the redhead asked quietly, narrowing her eyes.

“If I had it my way, you two would go on to that little palace you made yourselves, and you wouldn’t cross the bridge back over here ever again,” the bartender said hotly. At the intensity, Ecchi-tan winced.

“That was such a long time ago, and you got everything back from us, and you even beat our butts in that fight. Then, you even completely changed everything. Your name, your occupation…your family.” At that, her breath hitched.

Pub-tan’s expression softened, only slightly. “Because I knew it would come to something like this,” she said, losing her edge and sounding exhausted.

“Answer me this,” Lewd-tan finally spoke up again, “Why? Why did you go through all the trouble, to even cut your blood bond with us as sisters?”

“Because I was afraid,” Pub-tan said simply. “You two, the way you conspire together, it’s like some bad alliance. I didn’t want family to ever conflict with my greater judgment. In fact, I didn’t really want to keep being a Tan, but I couldn’t just give up my gift. So, I just did what I do best: I held a mirror to life, reflecting it back, making a space for raiders to reflect, see things, experience, and live.”

“But, I believe a compromise can be reached,” MR-tan cleared her throat. “You’ll be allowed to cross the bridge, but we can enchant it such that you two will never be able to use your magic within MR grounds again. You can still host your raid, if you can find a way. How does that work for everyone?”

“Aye,” the bartender agreed, jaw clenched.

“Aye,” the writer sighed. “Cancelling out my DEM magic was the last straw there.

Lewd-tan put a hand on her sister’s shoulder and nodded. “I think we can agree, with one little thing.” Ecchi-tan nodded. “If one of our children call us, we should be able to go to them.”

The table exchanged glances. “I suppose that’s fair,” MR-tan said.

In the distance, a burst of energy sent shockwaves through the city. Raiders stumbled for a moment as their physiology altered. In seconds, the shockwave reached the Tans, and their previous forms restored, outfits and all.

“Then so it will be, effective immediately,” Writer-tan declared, finishing writing a seal on the scroll before her.

Yeah, it's mostly because I kept having to find ways to excuse holes left earlier in the story, and of course writing all this in two days under a huge deadline, I couldn't think things through, so everything had to be new along the way. Thankfully, it looks like it merged together just fine, despite me freaking out about it.

Two things: since this was for a creative writing class, I went through an editing process to expand on a few things for a portfolio. That's number one.

Number two is that in order to get the most feedback possible, I'm going to leave the original draft version up there intact as I post the first edit version below. Note, there is an extra scene added to the end, with some subtle edits throughout to dialogue. For that, I will open a discussion thread for any commentary on my editing and other possible edits I could make. Even after my class ends, I will still look to feedback on this project to direct future writings.

That said, enjoy.

EDITPart I

A chilling giggle broke through the silent darkness. The goddess tucked a pink hair behind her ear, proud of her handiwork.

“That’s the last gem, dear sister,” she hummed, lips curling around the words like an innocent schoolgirl’s shy smile.

The red haired goddess crossed her arms and nodded in approval. “And, with all the havoc this city has seen in the past month, no one will be able to fend off this level of magic,” she added.

Satisfied, the two took their places on either side of the radio tower’s flashing light, placing their palms flat against it.

“Here goes,” beamed the younger twin.

“The raiders will certainly be in for a surprise when they wake up tomorrow,” purred the older.

As the light on the tower groaned into its next crescendo, a pulse of pink and blue energy exploded from the epicenter, charged by the four gems scattered throughout the city, altering everyone in its wake. And yet, no one felt a thing.

---

Early morning sunlight pierced through the yellowed studio window, somehow finding the most dickish way possible to hit the raider directly in the eyes. With a groan, Mahlua rolled over, pushing her face into the pillow for more comfortable darkness. Something out of place itched at her chin, so with a simple, half-awake jerk, she scratched at it. In her discovery she jolted awake, suddenly much more alert than anyone should be at daybreak.

“The hell!?” she exclaimed, keeping a hand to the newly grown patch of wiry ginger hair. It almost didn’t register that her voice had dropped about an octave as well.

The raider sat dumbfounded for a moment, then threw the bed sheets out of the way to confirm her suspicions. Surely enough, her body was not how she left it the night before.

She closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath, running through various reasons for why, suddenly, overnight, her body changed its sex. Writer-tan’s DEM magic came to mind, and nothing else made much sense, but that didn’t explain why her, unless other people had been hit with the gender-bender as well.

As she pondered this, she swung her legs over the side of the bed, careful upon standing up. Her center of gravity felt different, and she took things slow on the way to the closet. Upon sliding the door, she found even her wardrobe’s contents had changed to match the adjustments. She blew out a grateful sigh, as nothing was particularly out of her taste. After a quick browse, she threw something on and entered the small side room of the upstairs bathroom.

No stranger to drag, she understood her masculine features before, but having them exaggerated without contouring and makeup was a sight to see, and the chin beard, as itchy as it was, didn’t look terrible. Not that she had a razor to shave it off with if it did. She turned her head and new body all sorts of ways, gauging it, feeling its differences. She wondered if anything had fundamentally changed on a mental or emotional level. A wave of anxiety swept over her. She wasn’t in the mood for an identity crisis.

Instead, she threw on a thick jacket and went down the stairs to her art studio and took a left to enter the garage, grabbing the keys to her beloved Suzuki. The purple motorcycle met her with a familiar gleam. She smiled as she took a seat and started up the engine, although she had to shift position to make herself more comfortable with her broadened body. As the engine roared to life, she felt in tune with the little static hum of the battery. Matching her internal wavelength with it, her body relaxed. The electric resonance proved that the change in sex did nothing to her lightning affinity.

“Guess some things don’t change,” she sighed.

That voice could take some getting used to, though.

---

It didn’t take long to reach MR Pub so early in the morning. Mahlua parked her ride in the same spot on the bike racks and killed the engine. She took another deep breath and tried, again, to perceive anything different about the atmosphere. She had tried along the way, but got nothing, the same as she did this time. Hopefully the mistress of the pub had some answers.

The raider pushed the heavy door aside, met with the familiar layout the bar had yesterday. Nothing out of place, except Pub-tan, who was nowhere to be found.

“Hello?” she called, voice booming and carrying far more than she was used to. She winced.

The pub wasn’t closed, otherwise the door would’ve been locked. The raider clenched her jaw and took a seat, careful not to cross her legs as usual.

Finally, someone emerged from the door behind the counter. He sported a nice button up shirt with a light tan vest and striped tie, which he adjusted in a way that betrayed his irritation. “When I get my hands on those two,” he spat with quiet venom before turning to see the raider. “Oh! And who might you be?”

Mahlua blinked in confusion. It wasn’t like Pub-tan to hire another bartender. “They call me MahluaandMilk, but usually only Coryn calls me by the Milk part,” she explained.

The bartender paled and silence fell for a hard moment.

“Those b——es.” The man growled, turning on his heel to pace back and forth behind the counter.

“Uh, who are b——es now?” the raider asked, quirking an eyebrow.

“The Twins, of course,” the other hissed in reply. “They’ve gone and used their magic for some new prank of theirs.”

With that, two and two made four.

“Wait a minute, Pub-tan?” the ginger gawked.

“The one and only,” the bartender grunted, crossing her arms, “And I suspect once the mods wake up, there’s going to be one hell of a party.”

As soon as the words left her mouth, the door burst open again, revealing a Nekomimi in a familiar trench coat and face cover mask. “Something’s wrong,” Lego said, accent still as round as usual, but raised into the feminine pitch range. His feline tail flicked from side to side, betraying his agitation.

Unimpressed, Pub-tan’s lips pressed into a line. “Clearly. We’re all genderbent, and to add insult to injury, the Twins drew out your fetish on you. You poor bastard…”

“That’s not all,” he said, panting for breath, “Efurry time I talk, cat puns slip out!”

The raider and the tan at the bar shared a pained look.

---

At around ten o’clock, the mods called for a town hall meeting. Concerned raiders, all affected by the Twins’ spell, crowded the plaza around a quick stage the mods set up. Writer-tan and MR-tan were in attendance along with the citizens. After two taps on the center-stage mic, Hasith, the grand global admin of the city himself, began the announcements.

“Raiders,” he began, meeting eyes with everyone in the crowd simultaneously, “I’m sure you’ve all noticed something different this morning. Our intelligence leads us to believe that the Ecchi Twins are the culprits. We still don’t know the agent of the genderswap, but we are presently working with Pub-tan, MR-tan, and Writer-tan to resolve the issue.”

From the crowd, Mahlua raised her hand. “What about Writer-tan’s DEM magic?”

Writer-tan, upon hearing the question, hoisted herself onto the stage. With a grim nod, the admin handed her the mic. She cleared her throat before explaining, “I tried that earlier, but it seems that this magic can’t be undone without some proper process. As counter-intuitive as it may seem, the Twins must’ve instilled their own form of DEM into whatever this is.”

Raiders shuffled in place around the plaza. Murmurs broke out.

Then, as if a smoke bomb had been dropped, the stage flashed with an explosive light. A hearty, boyish giggle emanated from the speakers. “Hello, raiders. I hope you’re enjoying your little present?” a new voice called.

As the smoke settled, a pink haired wonder stood, holding a new mic in one hand and a tell-tale kendo sword in the other, drooped over slightly broadened shoulders. In her new, masculine form, Ecchi-tan maintained a Japanese-style school uniform fitted for the opposite sex. Behind her, Lewd-tan’s wardrobe went from pencil skirt and blazer to a three-piece American cut suit that looked like it cost at least a year’s salary, even for a mod. The twin tans appeared to revel in their show-stopping awe before continuing.

“Now, now. We know things around here have been rough with the influx of spam ninjas lately,” Ecchi-tan hummed, averting her eyes.

The redhead took the lead from there. “So, we decided to set up a little game for all of you. We took four gems imbued with our power and scattered them through the city,” she explained making a graceful gesture with an outstretched arm, which almost looked off with her new appearance.

“And to reverse the spell, all you guys have to do is find them and break them,” the pink haired one finished with a smile.

Seizing his opportunity, the admin took his mic and asked the twins directly, “Why did you do this when our defense resources were unusually low? Surely there must be another reason.” The duo shared a look and shrugged.

“Perhaps there is,” the redhead said with a hint of a sinister smile.

At this point, Pub-tan had pushed through the crowd of raiders and had started to storm up the stairs, seething.

“Ah, looks like that’s our exit cue,” Lewd-tan sighed, placing a hand on her twin’s shoulder as she kicked something on the stage that caused another huge flash of light. As everyone’s eyes scrambled to adjust, her smooth voice called out, “If you’d like a hint, start at Pub’s place. Under your nose, and all.”

When the visual white noise dispersed, only Pub-tan, Writer-tan, and Hasith were left on stage, clenching their fists. Some raiders started to leave, either headed home to contemplate their choices or to the pub to start looking for the gems. Mahlua fell into the latter category.

---

Before any of the raiders made it to the pub, its owner used her Tan abilities to teleport there. By the time Mahlua, the mods and other concerned even made it to the door, Pub-tan had practically torn the place apart looking for the gem, seething in rage.

One of the mods, Coryn, who now had chin-length blonde hair and an American flag crop-top to hold back his new endowments, was the first inside.

“Woah, woah, what’s going on?” he asked, ducking as a polishing rag hit the wall behind where his head had been moments before. “Getting this mad isn’t like you at all.”

“I cannot BELIEVE they had the NERVE to come through here like that, let alone deposit one of their smarmy TOYS here,” she shrieked.

Squeezing through the small crowd of raiders trying to enter the bar, MR-tan hopped over the counter, an unheard of sin for Pub’s place, and grabbed the taller Tan by the shoulders. “Hey, use ya head,” she said, straining her eyebrows worriedly up her forehead. “Yeah, they shoulda never put one here, but you gotta calm down. You’re makin a mess.”

There was a fire in Pub-tan’s eyes as she bore her gaze down at the shorter Tan, but she clenched her jaw and stood stock-still. The air grew thick with tension, popping like a circuit on past its maximum voltage capacity.

“There you go. Calm,” MR-tan continued, loosening her grip on the other’s shoulders. “Now don’t worry. We’ll find the gem hidden around here, and we’ll give you the honor of shattering it to bits.”

“Gotta love how you up and decided that for everyone,” Pub-tan sighed, jaw still clenched in subdued anger. With that, she jerked herself out of the other’s grip and seated herself on the inside of the bar.

“Right then,” the sporty, ginger Tan grinned as she hopped back over the counter. She scanned the faces of the little crowd that had collected and put both hands on her hips. “We’ll help her out by doing a thorough sweep through the building and around its premises.”

The group nodded and split up, each going around in its own direction. Mahlua found herself clumped in the usual science-savvy group with Coryn, Lego, and Everlastin. They searched around for a while, but not finding much of anything, resigned themselves to sitting around the purple Suzuki outside, musing.

“We don’t even know what the gems look like,” the ginger groaned, rubbing at her bristly chin beard. Its texture had almost started to comfort her, in a weird way.

“Maybe we could look fur traces of meow-gic and find it that way?” Lego hummed, swishing his tail back and forth.

“I’m not really sure why it’s such a big deal that we find them so quickly,” Everlastin shrugged. “I mean, this whole change doesn’t really bother me. I’ve always been mistaken as a boy anyway.

“Okay, but these things are killing me,” Coryn huffed, gesturing at his chest. “How the hell do you manage when they just…bounce when you run? That actually kinda hurts!”

“Yeah, and now I have to stop and think every time I sit down. Biologically speaking, both sexes have their issues,” the electric elemental shrugged, hopping off her bike. “As for the idea of searching for magic, I think Lego might be onto something.”

His ear twitched at the mention of his name. “Fur real?”

“Mm-hmm,” she nodded, laying her hand flat on the ground. “I’m going to try sending a low-voltage pulse and see if anything gives resistance.”

Everyone exchanged a glance. Mahlua emptied her lungs and felt her veins become as copper wires and channeled through the ground, the air, through the building, through metal, around rubber, through people’s brain waves, until finally—

The ginger stood up and hissed in recoil. “Surprise, surprise, I may have found a clue,” she said, making way around the Pub into the alley beside it.

“Where are you going?” Coryn asked, stumbling to follow her.

Not long after they all started walking, Mahlua stopped outside a familiar closed door, tapered off and dusty from lack of use in recent years.

“The Mortal Combat Room?” Everlastin blinked, rubbing the back of her neck.

“Maybe,” the ginger said, planting her foot hard against the wooden barricade. It gave. Inside, dust flakes filtered in the light, and behind them, a table held a bizarre pink gleam.

Coryn slid past her and went over to pick it up, but hesitated, hand inches from it. “They certainly gave a vague hint. I guess since this room is closed now, it is part of Pub-tan’s place. Still…” He tapped it with a finger, and upon not being smote to death or whatever he expected, he picked up the pink gem. It had the general shape of a diamond, about the size of a baseball. “…guess we’ll let Pub-tan have at it.”

“What was she so pissed about anyway?” Mahlua asked from the doorway.

The scientist shrugged and pocketed the gem.

A quick walk landed the party back in the bar. Raiders stood around, looking puzzled. Proudly, Coryn cleared his throat. “We got it for ya, Pub-tan. It’s all yours,” he called, tossing it to the bartender.

She caught it one-handed, without looking up. “Where was it?” she asked, throat still tight with emotion.

“The old Mortal Combat room we had back behind your place,” he explained, pointing a thumb behind him. “Milk found it with her electric stuffs.”

The Tan sighed, relieved. “Good.” Then, without even turning to look at the offensive item, she crushed it to dust in her fist.

As the powder filtered to the floor, it released a sound, as if it had been holding an audio recording. “Good job!” Ecchi-tan’s voice bubbled in its natural, feminine tone, “You got the first one!”

“The next one will be somewhere familiar to most of you,” Lewd-tan’s cool voice chuckled. “I can’t develop your idea too much for you, but follow the outline to the writer’s section.”

With that, the pink remains of the shattered gem disappeared.

“Guess that means you guys are headed to the Develop Your Story district next?” Pub-tan smirked.

“I…I thought that, but I wondered if they really made it that obvious as a joke,” Mahlua blinked.

“No time like the present to find out. Pretty as the girls are, they’re hurting my back,” Coryn groaned, stretching.

And, once again, due to the length of this story, it's broken into two parts.

EDITPart II

MR-tan started up the bus and hummed along the sprawling streets of the city. “Man, the Develop Your Story section,” she sighed, blowing out a long breath, “That gem could be anywhere.”

In the back, the quartet sat, mulling over the possibilities. “Well,” Mahlua shrugged, “The hint this time around also threw in the word ‘outline’, and since they already hinted strongly at Development…I hope we’re not on a goose chase in the wrong part of town.”

Everyone grew grim, except Everlastin, who seemed relaxed.

“How do we know they’re actually going to make us break the gems?” the brunette offered. “I mean, after a while, they’ll probably get bored and undo it, right?”

Coryn shook his head. “Nah. Those girls, when they give a challenge, they expect us to hold to it.”

“Yeah, but aren’t their other challenges usually timed?” Everlastin pressed. “Besides, I really don’t have a problem being stuck like this for a while. My gender’s always been a little fluid.”

“That’s great and all, and I’ve had my bouts of gender dysphoria as well,” the electric elemental interjected, “But, for the most part, it’s a pretty safe bet that the cis raiders are having their own bout with it. It might be nice for others under the genderqueer umbrella, but dysphoria sucks, just in general. A lot of raiders are probably feeling pretty uncomfortable by now.”

Coryn and Lego nodded.

“Back on topic,” MR-tan called from the driver’s seat, “I have a few spare maps of the city, if you think that’ll help with their riddles.”

The party congregated towards the front of the bus, where the Tan handed off various maps of the area. They spread them around the aisle to examine each in its complexity, searching for something, anything that could be a clue as to where the second gem lay. Clouds passed overhead, and amidst the pointing and discussions, the sky began to show signs of turning from late morning to early evening. MR-tan parked the bus to scout around, meanwhile Lego argued about the junction of alleys that formed the gentle curvature matching very womanly cats-sets. By the time she returned, the raiders were hardly looking at one another in frustration. She made a flat expression and held up a massive bag. “So, no luck? Well, I brought food.” That got everyone to turn and face her, lightening expressions into relief.

As the Tan joined the circle, she passed the bag around and everyone took a little box of fast food from it. They mulled over the maps some more, then brought the conversation in its circle back to whether or not the Twins might have put it around a topic discussion room about a particular ecchi story or genderbender. When the sky started to turn orange, Coryn threw his hands up.

“Those girls are out of their minds! At this rate, it’d probably be easier to summon them and ask them if they’d pretty please give us another clue,” he groaned, chomping aggressively at a double bacon cheeseburger. “Ugh, beer would be nice to go along with this.”

“Uh, Coryn, scientifically speaking, I think that does the opposite of helping your brain think logically about stuff,” Everlastin, ever his assistant interjected.

“Well, maybe we’re logicking too hard. In my work with them, they’ve taught me that sometimes the answer is cheesy, mind-numbingly simple, stereotypical, and probably exaggerated and ridiculous,” Mahlua mused, standing up for a stretch.

All eyes fell on her like floodlights.

She paused, looking around, bewildered. “What. Is there mayo in my beard?”

Everyone crowded around her with expectation painted on their features.

“Seriously, dudes. What?”

“You’re pagan,” Lego pointed out, ears tucked back and eyes widened.

“Aaand?” the lightning child drawled.

“And you’ve worked with the Twins…as goddesses,” MR-tan pointed out, almost as if agitated at their pompous claim to the title.

“Well, I am a dual citizen of MR and Ecchiworld,” she said, taking a step back, breaking into a nervous sweat. “They are considered goddesses there.”

“And think about what you just said. Cheesy, stereotypical,” the Tan pressed.

Mahlua blinked.

“C’mon, Milk,” Coryn crossed his arms, or tried to. He still had difficulty figuring out if they should go above or below his bust. After a moment of shuffling, he gave up. “Do the witchy thing and summon them!”

“Wow…that…actually might work,” she sighed, rubbing the back of her neck. “But, uh, I’ll need some room, so it’s probably best if we don’t try this in the bus.”

With that, the party migrated out onto a little green space nearby. Mahlua shuffled out of her jacket and folded it, placing it on the ground to give herself a place to sit. “So, uh,” she started, turning to everyone with a faint blush, “Usually being in their presence gives me hot flashes, and since I don’t exactly have tits right now, would anyone be like, super uncomfortable if I took off my shirt?”

“Ugh, fine,” she sighed, shaking her head. “Sorry for trying to be sensitive.” In a single movement, she grabbed a bit of fabric between her shoulderblades and pulled the shirt over her head, revealing a broad chest with the slightest ginger peach fuzz. A blush still colored her ears as she sat, exhaling.

She grounded herself, letting everything heavy phase into the earth, and then she centered, pulling her energy around her heart, a few thin lines of electricity zipping like a plasma ball between different parts of her body. Her breathing started to even out with five beats of her heart, and then she began to speak.

“Lady of youth and playful shyness, lady of experience and forwardness,” her deep voice resounded, illuminating the faint glow of heiroglyphs that were embedded into her being, “I seek your advice and your kinship. Great goddesses of the highest acropolis in Ecchiworld, mistresses of the sacred mysteries, Ecchi-tan, Lewd-tan, I call to you.”

The air grew heavy, melding with the heat in the dulling colors of duskfall. Mahlua’s ritualistic state drew static that congregated before her, solidifying. Then, with a bright flash and metallic pop, a wind hitched up that began billowing her ponytailed hair upward. Her flush deepened as her eyebrows knitted together in concentration.

A sudden whirlwind of energy knocked everyone nearby back a few feet, and in the center of the whirlwind, the witch sat, met in the presence of her twin goddeses, who materialized before her.

“So,” Lewd-tan curled her lips around the word like a smile, “What do you request of us?”

Beside her, Ecchi-tan arched forward, examining the witch, mouth open slightly in surprise and intrigue. “Oh my,” she sighed, “I think I really like how this spell turned out for you!”

Mahlua flushed and opened her eyes, which no longer appeared to have irises, instead glowing like the holy markings in her flesh. “I’m honored, my lady,” she said, bowing her head.

“What the hell?” A vein pulsed visibly on Lego’s brow. “Ecchi-tan…you actually like men like that? I…but—”

“Don’t worry, Maestro,” the pink haired Tan cleared her throat, “I’ve known from the beginning that she’s definitely one of dear sister’s children. Your heart is certainly more pure, more appreciative of the intricate balance of showing only what is necessary and generating the power of the ancient art.”

The nekomimi stopped as if frozen in time and space, all but the tears of gratitude that leaked from his eyes for the greater goddess he had always served.

“Guys, you’re forgetting why we summoned them in the first place,” Everlastin called for attention, shaking her head. Seeing as she was never a member of Ecchiworld, the Twins held no more power over her than MR-tan, who at this point looked impatient.

“Clever one, aren’t you?” the red haired Tan called, putting a hand on her hip as she adjusted her glasses. “Of course, we already know. You want to know more about the location of the second gem.”

“You could say that they’re looking for a sign, couldn’t you, dear sister?” the younger giggled, smoothing down her schoolboy tie.

The two shared a look, Ecchi-tan’s red eyes meeting her sister’s pink ones in an unsettling knowingness. They grinned at one another, raising an air of dangerous mischief.

“Of course,” the spectacled Tan sighed, expression dropping into one more grave, “We can’t just give you the answer. There have been some unforeseen benefits of the sex swap. Surely you’ve noticed, MR.”

The orange haired Tan stiffened. “And some people are experiencing anxiety at unhealthy levels. I know what you’re about to say. Stop. Isn’t it enough that you’ve made so many raiders suffer this dysphoria for almost a full day? You could call it humbling, but for drawing it out like this, it’s getting closer to sadistic,” she said, tightening her fist as she took a step forward.

Ecchi-tan drew her bokken without a shred of hesitation and held it at ease, eyes fixed on MR-tan. Despite the casualness of her stance, the threat remained.

“Now, now, there’s no need to get vicious,” Lewd-tan cooed, extending her arm to bar her sister’s way. “We won’t give you an answer directly, but, we will give you a sign.” With that, she looked into the eyes of the raider sitting before her. “Are you ready to offer something in return for our help?”

“Yes, my lady,” Mahlua replied, closing her eyes and bowing low.

“Good. Now, this will hurt a little,” the older goddess turned to the younger with a nod.

Ecchi-tan followed up on the cue with a swing of her bokken, whamming the raider’s ribs with a chilling THOK, sending her in an impressive arc through the grey sky. The other raiders gasped in horror and surprise, running after the flying, limp body of their friend.

To protect herself, the witch focused on phasing herself into pure electric energy and attached herself to the closest conduit that made a safe, direct route to the ground that she could find. With a jolt, she found herself firmly planted on street level, one hand pressed against the billboard stand that held up the sign dividing the districts. Looking up, it all made sense.

“Welcome to the Develop Your Story District!” it read.

Curious, and no longer glowing in her ritual state, Mahlua let herself electrify again, zooming up to the standing platform on the billboard. To confirm her suspicions, a diamond-shaped gem sat embedded between two plates of metal. Unlike the last one, this one shone a brilliant blue. Below, she could hear her friends calling up to her. She picked up the gem and held it up, calling down “Hey, guys!” Smiling, she put it in her pocket and started making her way down the ladder, not wanting to expend any more energy.

Once back on the ground, everyone crowded around her again. “Are you alright? That sounded like she broke your ribs!” Everlastin whined, inspecting the red mark that would no doubt soon turn black and blue.

“I’m fine, really,” the ginger assured her, “I took a worse beating back in December, remember? Being in my ritual state protects against major damage. Speaking of, did someone bring my shirt?”

Everyone exchanged an embarrassed glance and shrugged. “Well, let’s at least crack open this next clue first, then we’ll go get it,” Coryn suggested.

“I almost swear you guys just like seeing me shirtless,” Mahlua grumbled, withdrawing the blue gem and gripping it in her hand. Like she saw Pub-tan do, she clenched the magic imbued stone and it shattered without resistance.

Lewd-tan took over, sultry and prodding. “The next one is somewhere important to me. I was humbled in a glorious battle.” Her voice paused, as if she wanted to say something else, but decided instead to conclude with, “When it comes down to it, the favor of a goddess will always help you find a way.”

“That was one hell of a fight, and it was a route no one had taken, and she let us all pass. We almost won the raid because of it,” the ginger replied with a shiver.

“Wait, wait, wait, what’s this about?” Lego prodded. “I know the tunnel entrance under the Admin building took damage during meowr battle, but what’s paw-ll this about ‘the favor of a goddess’, eh, Mahlua? Furst, Ecchi-tan herself compliments you, and meow Lewd-tan says something about a ‘favor’ over a battle you won with her? I think there’s something mew’re not telling us.” He crossed his arms

Mahlua bit her lip. She hadn’t told anyone about the brief vision she had before being struck down in the final fight in last year’s raid. She treasured that dream as if it were real, even if she never brought it up with the Twins after the fact.

Irritated, Everlastin butt in. “What’s it matter? If we have a pretty good idea where the third gem is, let’s go get it!”

“You’re much eager about this than before,” Coryn hummed, raising an eyebrow like an accusation.

“Yeah…it’s just…let’s just grab Mahlua’s shirt and go. This is weird.”

---

It didn’t take long for the raiders to enter the tunnels, since the web of pathways criss-crossed throughout the city. Before starting their trek, MR-tan told them that she was going to find the Writer-tan and Pub-tan and have a long, hard chit-chat with the Twins about the massive boundaries they had overstepped.

“Ugh, I wish she would’ve at least driven us closer to the Administration Building before she ducked out,” Everlastin yawned, walking with her hands on the back of her neck.

“Yeah, well, whatever they’re gonna do, it looks like it’s going to be serious. Did you see the look on MR-tan’s face? And Pub-tan earlier today was absolutely furious. Everything seems really out of place. For whatever reason, the other Tans are getting tired of the Twins, and they aren’t trying to hide it,” Mahlua pondered aloud. “Hey, Coryn, you’re the unofficial scribe of all of MR. Do you know what’s going on?”

The scientist shrugged, shaking his head. “If something went down, I wasn’t let in on it. Or, it happened before I got here.”

“Speaking of strange occurrences, why was I turned into a nekomimi girl?” Lego added. “I mean, efurryone knows I love cat girls, but I can’t believe that I’m the odd cat out in the whole city. Also, I wish it were pawsible to turn these puns off.”

“Yeah, you’re basically a walking stereotype,” the ginger sighed. “Guess they really have it out for you.

“I’m not sure he’s the only one,” Coryn said, scrunching his eyebrows together. “My wardrobe was changed completely when I woke up. There was a lot of cowgirl attire, and that isn’t even my thing.”

“Oh, so that explains the American flag shirt…and…wait, you had a double bacon cheeseburger earlier, too,” Mahlua’s eyes grew wide, “And you kinda help lead us around, giving me the ideas I need to do things, and…well, there’s your obvious, erm…”

“What are you trying to say?” the scientist shot back, crossing his arms, settling on the decision that under the bust was definitely easiest to achieve.

“I think I get it,” his assistant chimed in. “You’re an All-American stereotype!”

“So, what mew’re suggesting is that we weren’t just genderbent?” the nekomimi inquired, tilting his head as if processing the information.

“It’s a possibility. Isn’t it also odd that we seem to be the only ones on the hunt for the gems, despite all the people who probably hate life right now? It’s all like some corny shounen save-the-world story,” Mahlua continued.

Coryn made a ‘pssh’ sound and cracked a smile. “I guess that makes you the lame shounen protagonist, Milk. I mean, after all, you were the one who used your electric affinity to find the first gem, and then you summoned the Twins and got the ball rolling, not to mention they really seem to be drawn to you, in that weird way villainesses seem to do, and even Everlastin! She may have budded a gentlemen’s sword, but she’s still straight as an arr–YYEEOOW!”

“Sorry,” the brunette said without the faintest hint of remorse, fist still dug deep in the side of her boss.

“Which brings up the question…what stereotype is Efurlastin?” Lego said, raising a hand for a high-five. Everlastin smacked it proudly.

“Traitor,” Coryn grumbled.

“Nah, more like the MC’s childhood friend foil character. The Suzaku to my Lelouche,” the lame shounen protagonist offered, nodding in satisfaction with her own answer.

At the edge of their vision, a familiar corner came into view.

“Well, no more time for mulling about. Time to see if this is the place, and, more importantly, if it’s booby trapped,” the scientist smiled, stretching for a moment before rubbing his smarting side.

Everyone took a deep breath and mentally braced themselves before turning into the murky green light of the underground entranceway to MR Tower. Yet again, a faint pink gleam sat in the middle of the room. The two mods nodded to one another and circled the room as if trying to avoid initiating a boss fight cutscene. Mahlua, meanwhile, approached the center of the room, Everlastin in tow. She reached the precious item and squatted down to grab it. The air stood still in anticipation for an attack, but then…nothing.

Relieved, the elemental held up the pink gem and crushed it in her hand.

“As for the final clue,” Ecchi-tan’s voice cut in, “Don’t you wanna share your victory with everyone? Because pretty soon it looks like our little show is going to be taken off the air.”

“Man, their clues keep getting easier. What the hell?” the ginger said, face contorting with concern.

“I guess they had to make up knowing that the second gem was ridiculously hard?” Everlastin offered.

“Or maybe it had to be us, because only those involved in last year’s raid would’ve known this location’s value,” Coryn added.

“Whatever the case, looks like we’re headed to the broadcast tower,” Mahlua concluded.

---

As the raider party made their way to their final destination, in another part of town, MR-tan called together a meeting for all the Tans. The night was warmer than it had been in a while, with spring on the horizon. The meeting place was a little café with outdoor seating. MR-tan, Writer-tan, Pub-tan, and the Twins sat around a metal outdoor table with an umbrella in the center, with a little light suspended from the spokes to fight away the darkness.

“I take it we all know what this is about?” MR-tan started the meeting, shifting her eyes to look at everyone.

“Yes. This went further than we anticipated,” Lewd-tan sighed, sliding her glasses up the bridge of her nose.

“This goes far beyond this genderbending incident, Lewd,” Pub-tan spat, eyes cold as ice as she sat, arms crossed, piercing the Twins with her gaze. Ecchi-tan shifted under the pressure.

“So,” the pink haired one sighed, tightening her fists in her lap, “We’re bringing that back up, huh, Si–”

“Don’t call me that,” Pub-tan hissed.

After a pause, Writer-tan spoke up, albeit with care. “Look, I know this pulls on a lot of nerves, but we have to take into account all the transgressions of the Twins.” She drew a scroll from her belt and unraveled it on the table. “On top of having stolen Pub’s old stuff to create Ecchiworld, a separate world where you’ve begun to deify yourselves, and all the damage you’ve done to the city over the course of your annual raids, and now wreaking havoc on so many raiders for some idea of amusement, personally, I can’t see how we can let this go.”

“…What exactly are you planning to do with us, then?” the redhead asked quietly, narrowing her eyes.

“If I had it my way, you two would go on to that little palace you made yourselves, and you wouldn’t cross the bridge back over here ever again,” the bartender spat, eyes afire with a look that could kill a mortal. Ecchi-tan winced at its intensity.

“That was such a long time ago, and you got everything back from us, and you even beat our butts in that fight. Then, you even completely changed everything. Your name, your occupation…your family.” At that, the younger twin’s breath hitched, throat clogged with a strike of emotion.

Pub-tan’s expression softened, but only a fraction. “Because I knew it would come to something like this,” she said, losing her edge and sounding exhausted.

“Answer me this,” Lewd-tan spoke up again, “Why? Why did you go through all the trouble, to even cut your blood bond with us as sisters?”

“Because I was afraid,” Pub-tan replied, as if it were the most obvious answer. “You two, the way you conspire together, it’s like some bad alliance. I didn’t want family to ever conflict with my greater judgment. In fact, I didn’t really want to keep being a Tan, but I couldn’t just give up my gift for all the people it serves. So, I just did what I do best: I held a mirror to life, reflecting it back, making a space for raiders to reflect, see things, experience, and live.”

“But, I believe a compromise can be reached,” MR-tan cleared her throat. “You’ll be allowed to cross the bridge, but we can enchant it such that you two will never be able to use your magic within MR grounds again. You can still host your raid, if you can find a way. How does that work for everyone?”

“Aye,” the bartender agreed, jaw clenched in her usual tic.

“Aye,” the writer sighed. “Cancelling out my DEM magic was the last straw there.”

Lewd-tan put a hand on her sister’s shoulder and nodded. “I think we can agree, with one little thing.” Ecchi-tan nodded. “If one of our children call us, we should be able to go to them.”

The table exchanged glances. “I suppose that’s fair,” MR-tan said.

In the distance, a burst of energy sent shockwaves through the city. Raiders stumbled for a moment as their physiology altered. In seconds, the shockwave reached the Tans, and their previous forms restored, outfits and all.

“Then so it will be, effective immediately,” Writer-tan declared, finishing writing a seal on the scroll before her.

The goddesses exchanged a laugh.

“What’s so funny? MR-tan asked suspiciously.

“Nothing,” said one.

“Those kids sure are something,” said the other.

---

As Mahlua, Coryn, Lego, and Everlastin returned to report their victory to the mods and prepare a grand party to celebrate, the Twins followed the path to the edge of the city, stopping at the bridge between the world that the five powerful entities once built together and the one they made all their own, where they would now spend the rest of their time in semi-exile. Writer-tan stood by, chaperoning them. She adjusted her glasses, then rested a knuckle on her lips in thought.

“You know,” the blonde Tan drawled, “I still get the feeling that there’s more to your little gender-bending plan than you let on.”

“What else could we tell you about it?” Lewd-tan countered.

Writer-tan stood at the center of the bridge walkway, folding her arms. “Why?”

Ecchi-tan turned her face to meet eyes with her twin, a smile playing on her lips. “Shall we give her a hint as well, dear sister?”

“Stop playing your games,” the blonde barked, narrowing her eyes.

“My, my,” the redhead chuckled, striding up to the other Tan until she stood nose-to-nose with her. “This isn’t a game any more, Writer. If it were, we would have won. You see, in the end, things still went according to plan.”

The blonde’s eyes widened as fear shivered down her spine. She felt for a moment like she couldn’t move. “What do you mean,” she asked, with her throat gone dry.

Ecchi-tan skipped up, still smiling. “Y’see, this finalizes everything. It kinda sucks that we’re broken off from MR, but those gems did a little more than break our spell.”

Realization crashed down like a violent, destructive tidal wave. Writer-tan grit her teeth and summoned her massive scroll and pen. “What have you two unleashed?” she growled, heart racing in her ears.

“No need to get so riled up. Unless, of course, you consider us monsters,” Lewd-tan purred, lips curling into a dangerous smile as she took an uncaring step forward, disregarding the Tan and her weapons.

“You can’t mean—” Writer-tan gasped.

The pink haired twin passed by her with a wave. “Yup. See you around, Writer. Shame that you guys never listened to us when we told you how easy it would be to become true goddesses.”

The Twin Goddesses shared a laugh and continued across the bridge without turning back. The Tan fought for her breath for a moment before crumbling to her knees.

“No…” she coughed on the word, and it tasted like blood. “I can’t believe this. This whole time, under our nose, and then…they’re so far out of our league now. True Goddesses…Deus dirige nos.”

And Lego plus gender bending magic equals humorous cat puns that were oddly satisfying. Never thought cat puns would a get chuckle out of me. Then again, it was Lego delivering them, and that's funny in itself.

Another great MRverse story, Mahlua. It was cool to see how this story sparked Coryn's "Daily lives of Tans" piece. I love how the lore of MRverse is slowly evolving and expanding right before my very eyes. *Sheds tear*

I think that officially marks off all of your MR Canon stories, right Mahlua? Unless you have another one I don't know about. I'm pretty sure I'm all caught up in terms of recent MR Stories. I guess it's finally time to revisit old ones.

Ah, forgot about that one. Will get to that story asap. And more power to ya Mahlua for the expanding the universe and whatnot. Hopefully I'll contribute to the world in some way soon. Definitely have ideas for expanding on the world outside of MR.

1. Writer-tan’s DEM magic came to mind, and nothing else made much sense, but that didn’t explain why her, unless other people had been hit with the gender-bender as well.-What is DEM magic?

2. Instead, she threw on a thick jacket and went down the stairs to her art studio and took a left to enter the garage, grabbing the keys to her beloved Suzuki. The purple motorcycle met her with a familiar gleam. -A Suzuki. Great choice

3. Finally, someone emerged from the door behind the counter. He sported a nice button up shirt with a light tan vest and striped tie, which he adjusted in a way that betrayed his irritation. “When I get my hands on those two,” he muttered tightly before turning to see the raider. -Reminds me of Shizuo Heiwajima from Durarara

4. “The one and only,” the bartender said flatly, crossing her arms, “And I suspect once the mods wake up, there’s going to be one hell of a party.”- She's quite pissed. Interesting that the rewrite magic could affect another tan too.

5. Surely enough, as soon as the words left her mouth, the door burst open again, revealing a Nekomimi in a familiar trench coat and face cover plate. “Something’s wrong,” Lego said, accent still as round as usual, but distinctly raised into the feminine range. His tail flicked agitatedly.-Indeed.

6. “That’s not all,” he said breathlessly, “Efurry time I talk, cat puns slip out!”- That pun was furrible

7. The raider and the tan at the bar shared a pained look.- What, I thought it was funny.

8."Raiders,” he began sternly, “I’m sure you’ve all noticed something different this morning.- You think!?

9. As the smoke settled, surely enough, a pink haired wonder stood, holding the mic in one hand and a tell-tale kendo sword in the other, drooped over slightly broadened shoulders. In her new, masculine form, Ecchi-tan maintained a Japanese-style school uniform fitted for the opposite sex. Behind her, Lewd-tan’s wardrobe went from pencil skirt and blazer to a three-piece American cut suit that looked like it at least cost a year’s salary, even for a mod. The twin tans appeared to revel in their show-stopping awe before continuing.- Looking swanky. Also I wonder what counts as currency in MR

10. “Maybe we could look fur traces of meow-gic and find it that way?” Lego hummed, swishing his tail back and forth.- The puns

11. With that, the pink remains of the shattered gem disappeared.- One gem down, three to go.

13. Everyone grew grim, except Everlastin, who seemed fairly relaxed.- Always cool to see her show up in canon.

14. “C’mon, Milk,” Coryn crossed his arms, or tried to. He still had difficulty figuring out if they should go above or below his bust. After a moment of shuffling, he gave up. “Do the witchy thing and summon them!”-'Heh. Do the witchy thing.'

15. “Don’t worry, Maestro,” the pink haired Tan cleared her throat, “I’ve known from the beginning that she’s definitely one of dear sister’s children. Your heart is certainly more pure, more appreciative of the intricate balance of showing the only what is necessary and generating the power of the ancient art.”The nekomimi stopped as if frozen in time and space, all but the tears of gratitude that leaked from his eyes.- Tis a highest complement. Plus she called me Maestro. I can die happy.

16. “Which brings up the question…what stereotype is Efurlastin?” Lego said, raising a hand for a high-five. Everlastin smacked it proudly.

“Traitor,” Coryn grumbled.- Muhuhehehehe.

17. “Well, no more time for mulling about. Time to see if this is the place, and, more pressingly, if it’s booby trapped,” the scientist smiled, stretching for a moment before rubbing his smarting side.- Damn that pun was better than all of mine.

18. The night was warmer than it had been in a while, with spring on the horizon.- Are there even seasons in MR?

19. “Those kids sure are something,” said the other.-Alls well that ends well. That was a pretty intense discussion at the end there. Tugs at the feels to see how Pub-tan became after a while. Things change with families and stuff I suppose. Props on writing so much, and pretty solid ships in terms of writing and grammar. Nicely done. I'd make a pun, but i'm too much of a purfectionist to risk failiing at making one.

12. Even running around with a C cup can start to wear on you, and I figure if his body isn't used to the extra weight, it's more prominent and noticeable.

19. Glad you like it. MRverse is great to write for, and I'm glad to be a part of its craziness. I wouldn't say the grammar is super great with all the adverbs I left in there, but I think I've gotten better at it.